Interesting Facts

There used to be very little known about dyslexia, but advances in modern medicine, especially in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have led to a greater understanding of the human brain and this condition.

Here are some interesting facts:

  • More than 25 million Americans struggle with dyslexia
  • Approximately half of all diagnosed cases of dyslexia have a genetic basis (family member)
  • One in twenty (5%) children have a severe case of dyslexia
  • About one in five (17% - 20%) has a milder case of dyslexia, in degrees of severity
  • Mild cases may not need intervention, but moderate to severe cases do
  • Phonics programs are not appropriate for dyslexics
  • The most avid reader reads in 2 DAYS what the most reluctant reads in a YEAR!
  • What you know is directly related to the amount you read

Severe Dyslexia

  • Permanent type of dyslexia that improves little with age
  • Found in 2-5% of the population
  • Family history
  • Intensive early training can raise most to a reading level between 4th and 6th grade level
  • Spelling skills rarely rise over 4th grade

Mild to Moderate Dyslexia

  • With proper intervention can seem to diminish as a person matures 
  • Equal ratio of boys to girls
  • More identification in boys (4:1) due simply to increased activity and behavior issues
  • Family history

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Types of Dyslexia

  • Auditory dyslexia- inability to hear separate sounds within spoken language
    • Most common type of dyslexia, also known as phonological deficit 
    • Cortex does not process speech sounds accurately
    • Sounds do not register well, out of order or incorrect
    • Use of similar sounding words
    • Chunks of message are left out
    • Blocks development of spelling
  • Visual dyslexia- visual interpretation of printed symbols
    • Most easily diagnosed
    • Has nothing to do with visual acuity
    • Information is scrambled in the language portion of the left side of the brain
    • Reversals, transpositions, inversions, mirror images, and scrambled sequences
  • Dysgraphia- poor graphomotor or writing ability
    • Dysgraphia is not sloppy handwriting
    • It is a lack of automaticity in the writing process
    • Awkward control of the pencil; odd pencil grip, thumb crosses over
    • Can't make letters "sit" on a straight line
    • inconsistent letter slant, sizing, and spacing
    • Odd beginning and ending points for letters
    • Cannot copy from board; copies letter by letter (poor visual memory) 
    • Cramped or illegible handwriting
    • Many suffer from hand cramps
    • Handwriting gets more illegible the longer they write
    • Appears to draw the letters
  • Combination of any of these types of dyslexia

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